White Trout LIly

White Trout Lily - Erythronium albidum

Nature abounds with beautiful and unique plants, and the white trout lily is one of these exceptional perennials that can add visual interest to your landscape. The wildflower also goes by white dogtooth-violet, white fawn lily, and adder 's-tongue. This lily is classified as an ephemeral plant because it blooms in early spring and then goes dormant.

White Trout lily are robust, lush, and resilient.

The white trout lily appears graceful and delicate when you see a cluster of these wildflowers, but don't be fooled. The perennial is challenging because it can grow throughout North America and parts of Eurasia, and brutal winter conditions do not match the plant's irrepressible nature. The perennial is a native charming wildflower from southern Ontario to Minnesota and south to South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. The White trout lily wildflower thrives in USDA hardiness zones 3-9 and has an herbaceous growth habit. That means the white trout lily dies back to the ground each winter and, regrows new stems, and leaves the next growing season.

Lily-shaped blossoms in white with mottled leaves that some say look like trout markings make the wildflower a favorite for gardens and landscapes. The flower features six white petals that elegantly curve backward as its bright yellow stamens nod downward. The short lily grows about 4-12 inches tall, 3-6 inches wide, and sprouts from a bulb. Ants also spread the seeds of the perennial. This plant can bring aesthetic woodland beauty to your property. Homeowners enjoy planting white trout lilies in rock gardens, around deciduous trees and shrubs, along sloping yards, or by a small backyard pond. The leaves also make an appealing groundcover. To properly cultivate the White trout lily, medium to moist, rich soil and shade to partial shade are recommended. Even during its dormant stage, this plant does not do well in drought-like conditions.

White Trout lily are attractive to pollinators.

The white trout lily can add biodiversity to your landscape and bring several key pollinators to your garden looking for an excellent, vital food source. For instance, butterflies, queen bees, honeybees, mason bees, and flies all suck nectar from the flowers during the plant's brief blooming time. Feeding rabbits and deer are not wild about white trout lily, so they don't often bother with the plant and, therefore, do not do much, if any, damage to the perennial. Another good feature of the lily is that it is non-toxic to humans and pets. 

Gardening experts recommend planting your bulbs during the fall to get the most out of your white trout lily perennial. The proper depth is 4 inches down, with each plant placed 4 inches apart. Make sure to set the bulbs in the soil with the pointed ends facing up. The plant slowly spreads to form big colonies. It can be protected under a deep, leafy mulch during winter.

White trout lily has been around for generations, and Native Americans often used the perennial for medicinal purposes. The plant's leaves were warmed, and their juices extracted and said to be effective in healing wounds, reducing fever, and even preventing pregnancy. 

White trout lily is an excellent plant if you're excited about enhancing your landscape or garden. It's a perennial and will return year after year with its graceful, lily-shaped, white blooms and distinctly speckled, elliptic-shaped leaves.

 Companion plants that fare well with the white trout lily include Persian violets, Virginian bluebells, wood anemones, columbine flowers, bleeding hearts, snowdrops, lady ferns, trillium, and hostas.

White Trout Lily ship as rooted plugs.